Louisiana Sinker Cypress Duo...Mommee' & Poppee'

Yesterday I pulled out a rough cut board from my sinker cypress stickered pile. This comes from part of a log that has been drying for over a year that started out with a moisture content in excess of 65%. As I ran it through my planer this tight grained board emerged.

I usually prefer a very wavy grain because it has a lot more character and beauty…so I decided that I would use this board for 2 matching boxes since the grain was so very uniform throughout.

There are very subtle differences that aren’t noticed by the untrained eye…but if you look closely you can see the slight differences in the grain that distinguishes the two boxes apart.The lifts are made from a piece of Black Palm that I had forgotten about and has been gathering dust until a recent cleanup.The design is a bit different and not sculpted because I am trying to complete 6 more boxes before we leave for the Louisville show. These were a fast and easy build and I completed both in a day.

-- Each step of every Wood Art project I design and build is considered my masterpiece… because I want the finished product to reflect the quality and creativeness of my work

Thanks everyone…! I always find it exciting to take a rough board to discover what beauty and grain pattern lay beneath the rough wood as it emerges from the back end of the planer.

I have discovered that when you break down the time involved in each step it really goes quickly.Sometimes I keep a log spreadsheet of time for each step of making a box and other times I don’t bother. I just happened to do it on these boxes…but realistically I feel that being too structured in the non-woodworking aspects is boring at best.

Run a board through the planer for desired thickness …5 minutes

square an edge on the jointer … 2 minutes

Rip to the desired width on the table saw.. 2-3 minutes

Lay out correct sizes and Cut each piece (4 sides, top and bottom) to length on miter saw …10-15 minutesMiter corners of all sides… 10 minutesCut Dado’s for bottom to fit into. 5 minutes

Cut skins (or chosen liner) to size for lining bottoms and glue them on …15 minutes

I ran these through the table saw at a 10 degree bevel to taper the top and bottom sides …10-15 minutesLay out the design curves on bottom and cut out with a jig saw…15-20 minutesCarve design around lift…45 minutes

Sand like a madman until desired results are achieved…60 minutes each for these boxes

spraying lacquer… about 1 minute per coat ( and i don’t count drying time)sanding in between coats… 1-2 minutes

This entire process goes fast because I do not waste time and I do not calculate the times for glue to dry or drying time in between coats of finish because I never stand around and watch glue dry of lacquer dry.

-- Each step of every Wood Art project I design and build is considered my masterpiece… because I want the finished product to reflect the quality and creativeness of my work